WO2025146043A1 - Communication method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus, used for enabling a terminal to be able to simultaneously establish 3GPP access types of connections with multiple networks, thereby meeting more flexible communication requirements of the terminal. The method comprises: when a terminal does not establish multiple connections, a data management network element acquires indication information, and sends the indication information to the terminal, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, the multiple connections refer to simultaneously establishing 3GPP access types of connections, and the 3GPP access types of connections belong to the same or different networks.

Description

Communication method and device

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on January 5, 2024, with application number 202410026771.1 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and device.

Background Art

In the network selection process of user equipment (UE) defined by the current 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), after the UE selects a network and successfully registers, the UE is in the network state. If the UE triggers network reselection, the UE will select a new network to replace the current network. This method may not meet the UE's more flexible communication needs in the future.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus to enable a terminal to simultaneously establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks, thereby meeting more flexible communication needs of the terminal.

In order to achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a data management network element, including: when a terminal does not establish multiple connections, the data management network element obtains indication information and sends the indication information to the terminal. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

Based on the method of the first aspect, it can be known that since the network side, that is, the data management network element, can provide the indication information of multiple connections, the terminal can trigger the establishment of multiple 3GPP access type connections at the same time according to the indication information, that is, simultaneously access and register to multiple networks to meet the terminal's more flexible communication needs.

It can be understood that the triggering of establishing multiple connections by the terminal when multiple connections have not been established is an example and is not intended to be limiting. The terminal may establish multiple connections regardless of whether multiple connections have been established currently. For example, the terminal may continue to establish multiple connections when multiple connections have been established. For example, if the established multiple connections are two 3GPP access type connections, the terminal may continue to establish multiple connections, such as increasing the number to three 3GPP access type connections. Alternatively, when multiple connections have been established, the terminal triggers the UE to change the connected network according to the solution of the present invention.

In one possible design, the indication information includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections. That is, the network side can indicate the networks that can be used to establish multiple connections to the terminal through the network list to ensure that the network selected by the terminal to access is a network that can support the establishment of multiple connections, avoiding redundancy caused by the network selected by the terminal not supporting multiple connections. Of course, if the terminal is pre-configured with a network list locally, the network side does not need to send the network list to the terminal to reduce communication overhead.

Optionally, the method described in the first aspect may further include: the data management network element obtains indication information from the application function.

Optionally, before the data management network element obtains indication information from the application function, the method described in the first aspect may also include: the data management network element sends slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal to the application function network element; the multiple networks indicated in the network list are networks that support slice information and/or data network names, so as to ensure that the networks establishing multiple connections with the terminal are all networks that can meet the business needs of the terminal.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include the network currently accessed by the terminal, so as to avoid the terminal continuing to select the network currently accessed by the terminal, resulting in failure of establishing multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the network list also indicates the types of wireless access technologies supported by the terminals for contracting in multiple networks. These wireless access technology types may be different. For example, the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#2 is TN, the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#3 is TN and NTN, and the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#4 is NTN. For another example, the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#2 is 5G, the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#3 is 5G and 6G, and the wireless access technology type supported by PLMN#4 is 6G, etc., to avoid failure in establishing multiple connections due to unsupported wireless access technology types.

In a possible design, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element receives the capability information of the terminal, and obtains the indication information according to the capability information of the terminal. The capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections, so as to avoid instructing the terminal to establish multiple connections because the terminal does not support multiple connections, resulting in a waste of communication resources.

Optionally, the data management network element receives the capability information of the terminal, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element, wherein the context registration request message includes the capability information of the terminal, that is, reusing the existing registration process to realize the perception of the multi-connection capability of the terminal, or, it can also be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the cell transmission can be more flexible.

In a possible design scheme, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element obtains the slice information requested by the terminal, and obtains the indication information according to the network slice being the slice corresponding to the multi-connection service. The slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal, that is, the network slice requested by the terminal requires the network to provide multiple connections, so as to ensure the service requirements of the terminal.

Optionally, the data management network element obtains the slice information requested by the terminal, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element. The context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal, that is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the multi-connection requirements of the terminal, or it can also be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

In a possible design, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element obtains the contract data of the terminal, and obtains the indication information according to the contract data of the terminal. The contract data of the terminal indicates that the terminal supports multiple connections, that is, it indicates that the terminal is a user who has signed a contract for multiple connections, avoiding communication redundancy caused by sending relevant information of multiple connections to unsigned users.

Optionally, the data management network element obtains the contract data of the terminal, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a contract data acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element, and obtains the contract data of the terminal according to the contract data acquisition request message. The contract data acquisition request message is used to request the data of the contract between the terminal and the network; that is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the contract data of the terminal, or it can also be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

In a possible design, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element receives service information from the access and mobility management network element, and obtains the indication information according to the service demand of the terminal not being met. The service information is used to indicate that the service demand of the terminal is not met, and at this time, the network needs to trigger the establishment of multiple connections to provide additional network resources to meet the service demand of the terminal.

Optionally, the unmet service demand of the terminal includes: the bandwidth provided to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the terminal's service, and/or the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality demand of the terminal's service, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this.

In one possible design scheme, the data management network element obtains indication information, including: the data management network element can obtain indication information according to preset conditions, wherein the preset conditions include at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within the time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located in the area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, that is, the data management network element can decide on its own to trigger the establishment of multiple connections based on the current time and the current location of the terminal, thereby avoiding additional communication overhead caused by interaction with other network elements.

Optionally, the method described in the first aspect may also include: the data management network element may obtain the location of the terminal from the access and mobility management network element through a subscription service, or may obtain the location of the terminal through other means, such as the access network device reporting to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. The specific selection can be based on actual needs and there is no specific restriction on this.

In a possible design scheme, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element receives request information from the terminal, and obtains the indication information according to the request information. The request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections, that is, the establishment of multiple connections can be triggered by the terminal itself, so that the interaction between the terminal and the network side in the process of triggering the establishment of multiple connections is simpler, and the communication overhead can be smaller.

Optionally, the data management network element receives request information from the terminal, including: the data management network element receives a contract data management acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element, wherein the contract data management acquisition request message includes request information, that is, it is implemented by reusing existing signaling, or it can also be implemented through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the signal element transmission can be more flexible.

In a possible design scheme, the data management network element obtains the indication information, including: the data management network element obtains the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, and obtains the indication information according to whether the service of the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. The slice information and/or data network name corresponds to the service of the terminal, that is, multiple connections can also be established according to the service requirements of the terminal to achieve on-demand establishment and avoid redundancy.

Optionally, the data management network element obtains the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, including: during the session establishment process of the terminal, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the session management network element, wherein the context registration request message includes the slice information and/or the data network name, that is, it is implemented by reusing existing signaling in the session establishment process, or it can also be implemented through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process and the cell transmission can be more flexible.

Alternatively, the data management network element may determine that the current network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal. For example, the current network can only provide part of the slices requested by the terminal, or the service requested by the terminal cannot be provided by the current network. For example, the non-public network (NPN) cannot provide Internet protocol (IP) multimedia service (IMS) services. In the scenario where the UE accesses the NPN, an additional PLMN can be selected to obtain IMS services. In this case, the data management network element triggers the establishment of multiple connections to meet the network requirements of the terminal's services.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to an application function network element, including: the application function network element receives a request message, and sends a response message according to the request message. The request message is used to request the application function network element to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections, and multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks; the response message includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

It can be understood that the application function network element may specifically be a roaming handover application function SOR-AF network element, or any other possible type of AF network element, and there is no limitation on this.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may also include: the application function network element receives the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, and determines the network list based on multiple networks that support the slice information and/or data network name.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include a network currently accessed by the terminal.

Optionally, the network list further indicates the types of wireless access technologies subscribed by the terminal supported by the multiple networks.

It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the second aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to an access and mobility management network element, including: the access and mobility management network element sends service information to a data management network element, receives indication information from the data management network element based on the service information, and sends indication information to a terminal. The service information indicates that the service demand of the terminal is not met; the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In a possible design, the method described in the third aspect may further include: the access and mobility management network element receives an N2 message from the access network device, the N2 message including service information. The access and mobility management network element determines, based on the service information, that the access network device cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal.

Optionally, the method described in the third aspect may further include: the access and mobility management network element obtains service information according to the terminal being located in a low signal area, wherein the service information is specifically used to indicate that the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the third aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal, or by a module (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the terminal, and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of expression, the following is an introduction to the method being executed by a terminal as an example. The method includes: receiving indication information, and establishing multiple connections according to the indication information. Among them, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third-generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In one possible design, the terminal has established a 3GPP access type connection with the first network, and the establishing multiple connections according to the indication information includes: selecting a second network from multiple networks indicated by a network list according to the indication information, and establishing a 3GPP access type connection with the second network. The multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include the first network.

Optionally, the network list further indicates the types of wireless access technologies subscribed by the terminal supported by the multiple networks.

Optionally, the indication information is also used to indicate a network list.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: sending capability information of the terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: sending slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal. Wherein the slice information and/or data network name corresponds to the service of the terminal, and the service of the terminal is a service that requires establishing multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: sending request information when the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: in response to the user's operation of turning on multiple connections, determining that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, that is, establishing multiple connections on demand according to user needs to ensure the user's usage experience; or; when the terminal's business needs to be executed, obtaining policy information that matches the terminal's business; when the policy information indicates that multiple connections need to be established, determining that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections so that the multiple connections can match the business needs to ensure the user's usage experience.

Among them, the policy information can be a URSP rule. The embodiment of the present application is introduced by taking the URSP rule as an example, but is not limited to the URSP rule. Any policy and/or rule similar to the URSP rule or capable of implementing the routing function can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the fourth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal, or by a module (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) applied to the terminal, or by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of expression, the following is an introduction to the method being executed by a terminal as an example. The method includes: when the terminal's service needs to be executed, obtaining policy information that matches the terminal's service; if the policy information indicates that multiple connections need to be established, establishing multiple connections, wherein multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third-generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

Based on the method described in the fifth aspect, it can be known that the terminal can match the policy information and trigger the establishment of multiple connections with the network side when the service matches the policy information that requires the establishment of multiple connections, so as to ensure that the multiple connections can meet the business needs and ensure the user experience.

In one possible design, the terminal has established a 3GPP access type connection with a first network, and establishing multiple connections includes: selecting a second network from multiple networks indicated by a network list, and establishing a 3GPP access type connection with the second network. The network list is indicated by policy information, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fifth aspect may also include: the terminal receives policy information from the network.

Among them, the policy information can be a URSP rule. Of course, the embodiment of the present application is introduced by taking the URSP rule as an example, but is not limited to the URSP rule. Any policy and/or rule similar to the URSP rule, or capable of realizing the routing function, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the fifth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a policy control network element, including: when the policy information of a terminal needs to be updated, the policy control network element obtains new policy information of the terminal and sends the new policy information to the terminal. The new policy information is used to indicate that multiple connections need to be established, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In a possible design, the new policy information further indicates a combination of radio access technology types required to establish multiple connections.

Among them, the policy information can be a URSP rule. The embodiment of the present application takes the URSP rule as an example, but is not limited to the URSP rule. Any policy and/or rule similar to the URSP rule, or capable of implementing a routing function, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the sixth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a module for executing the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

In a possible design solution, the communication device described in the seventh aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the seventh aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

In a possible design scheme, the communication device described in the seventh aspect may also include a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be separately provided. The memory may be used to store instructions involved in the manner of any one of the first to sixth aspects.

In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in the seventh aspect may be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that may be arranged in the network device, or a device including the network device.

It can be understood that the technical effect of the device described in the seventh aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method in any one of the first to sixth aspects above, and will not be repeated here.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled to a memory, the processor being configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

In a possible design solution, the communication device described in the eighth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the eighth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in the eighth aspect may be the network device described in any one of the first to sixth aspects, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that may be arranged in the network device, or a device including the network device.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the eighth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect, and will not be repeated here.

In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

In a possible design scheme, the communication device described in the ninth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the sixth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 9 may be the network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 6, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that may be arranged in the network device, or a device including the network device.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the ninth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of the first to sixth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising: a controller and an interface circuit, wherein the controller is used to interact with other devices through the interface circuit to execute the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a data management network element for executing the method described in the first aspect and a terminal for executing the method described in the fourth aspect. Alternatively, the communication system includes a terminal for executing the method described in the fifth aspect and a policy control network element for executing the method described in the sixth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which includes a computer program or instruction stored therein, and when the computer program or instruction is executed, the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects is executed.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed, enables the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects to be executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of 5GS;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the SOR process in registration;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the SOR process after registration;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a session establishment process;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a dual connection architecture;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram of network selection;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 is a second flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG10 is a third flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG11 is a fourth flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG12 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG13 is a sixth flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG14 is a first structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a second schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as wireless network (Wi-Fi) systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication systems, device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, vehicle network communication systems, fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication systems, such as long-term evolution (LTE) systems, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, such as new radio (NR) systems, and future communication systems, such as 5.5G and sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems.

For ease of understanding, the technical terms involved in this application are first introduced below.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the 5GS architecture. As shown in Figure 1, 5GS includes: access network (AN) and core network (CN), and may also include: terminals.

The terminal may be a terminal with transceiver functions, or a chip or chip system that can be set in the terminal. The terminal may also be called user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application can be a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a road side unit (RSU) with terminal function, etc. The terminal of the present application may also be a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units.

The above AN is used to implement access-related functions, can provide network access functions for authorized users, and can determine transmission links of different qualities to transmit user data according to the user level, business requirements, etc. AN forwards control signals and user data between the terminal and CN. AN can include: access network equipment, also known as radio access network (RAN) equipment.

CN is mainly responsible for maintaining the subscription data of the mobile network and providing functions such as session management, mobility management, policy management and security authentication for terminals. CN mainly includes all or part of the following functions: user plane function (UPF), authentication server function (AUSF), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), network slice selection function (NSSF), network exposure function (NEF), network repository function (NRF), policy control function (PCF), unified data management (UDM), unified data repository (UDR), and application function (AF).

As shown in Figure 1, UE accesses the 5G network through RAN equipment, and UE communicates with AMF through N1 interface (referred to as N1); RAN communicates with AMF through N2 interface (referred to as N2); RAN communicates with UPF through N3 interface (referred to as N3); SMF communicates with UPF through N4 interface (referred to as N4), and UPF accesses the data network (DN) through N6 interface (referred to as N6). In addition, the control plane functions such as AUSF, AMF, SMF, NSSF, NEF, NRF, PCF, UDM, UDR or AF shown in Figure 1 interact using service-oriented interfaces. For example, the service-oriented interface provided by AUSF to the outside is Nausf; the service-oriented interface provided by AMF to the outside is Namf; the service-oriented interface provided by SMF to the outside is Nsmf; the service-oriented interface provided by NSSF to the outside is Nnssf; the service-oriented interface provided by NEF to the outside is Nnef; the service-oriented interface provided by NRF to the outside is Nnrf; the service-oriented interface provided by PCF to the outside is Npcf; the service-oriented interface provided by UDM to the outside is Nudm; the service-oriented interface provided by UDR to the outside is Nudr; and the service-oriented interface provided by AF to the outside is Naf.

RAN equipment can be equipment that provides access to terminals. For example, RAN equipment can include: access network equipment of a next-generation mobile communication system, such as 6G, such as a 6G base station, or in a next-generation mobile communication system, the network equipment can also have other naming methods, which are all covered within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application, and the present application does not make any restrictions on this. Alternatively, the RAN equipment can also include 5G, such as a gNB in a new radio (NR) system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in 5G, or a network node constituting a gNB, a transmission point (transmission and reception point, TRP or transmission point, TP) or a transmission measurement function (transmission measurement function, TMF), such as a baseband unit (building base band unit, BBU), or a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU), an RSU with base station function, or a wired access gateway, or a 5G core network. Alternatively, RAN equipment may also include access points (APs) in wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also called small stations), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and so on.

UPF is mainly responsible for user data processing (forwarding, receiving, billing, etc.). For example, UPF can receive user data from the data network (DN) and forward the user data to the terminal through the access network equipment. UPF can also receive user data from the terminal through the access network equipment and forward the user data to the DN. DN refers to the operator network that provides data transmission services to users. For example, Internet protocol (IP) multimedia service (IMS), Internet, etc. DN can be an operator's external network or a network controlled by an operator, used to provide business services to terminals. In a protocol data unit (PDU) session, the UPF directly connected to the DN through N6 is also called a protocol data unit session anchor (PSA).

AUSF is mainly used to perform terminal security authentication.

AMF is mainly used for mobility management in mobile networks, such as user location update, user network registration, user switching, etc.

SMF is mainly used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release. Specific functions include allocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to users and selecting UPFs that provide data packet forwarding functions.

PCF mainly supports providing a unified policy framework to control network behavior, provides policy rules to the control layer network functions, and is responsible for obtaining user subscription information related to policy decisions. PCF can provide policies to AMF and SMF, such as quality of service (QoS) policy, slice selection policy, etc.

NSSF is mainly used to select network slices for terminals.

NEF is mainly used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

UDM is mainly used to store user data, such as contract data, authentication/authorization data, etc.

UDR is mainly used to store structured data, including contract data and policy data, externally exposed structured data, and application-related data.

AF mainly supports interaction with CN to provide services, such as influencing data routing decisions, policy control functions, or providing some third-party services to the network side.

It can be understood that the functions mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be expressed as functional network elements or functional entities. For example, UPF can be expressed as UPF network element, AMF can be expressed as AMF network element, SMF can be expressed as SMF network element, PCF can be expressed as PCF network element, and so on, without limitation.

2. UE route selection policy (URSP):

URSP rules are policy information sent by the PCF network element to the UE. Whenever a new application needs to establish a session to obtain services, the UE will evaluate the URSP rules and select the most appropriate URSP rule to match the application. When the UE establishes a session for the application, it will establish the session according to the requirements of the selected URSP rule.

The URSP rules specifically include the following:

1) Traffic descriptor:

The traffic descriptor contains some parameters for matching with applications, such as application descriptors (OS ID and APP ID), IP descriptors, domain name descriptors, data network name (DNN) and other information. When the UE needs to initiate a new service, the UE needs to match the traffic descriptor according to the characteristics of the service and select the best matching URSP rule to serve the UE. For example, when a user wants to use social software, and there is an APP ID in the URSP rule as a social software traffic descriptor, the UE should match this URSP rule and establish a session to obtain services according to the requirements of the URSP rule.

2) Route selection descriptors (RSD):

A URSP rule can contain one or more routing descriptors. Different routing descriptors have different priorities. When a UE establishes a session, it needs to establish a session according to the requirements of the routing descriptor RSD. Specifically, it can be divided into the following two parts:

a) Route selection components:

The routing selection component includes session and service continuity mode (SSC mode), slice information, DNN information, etc. When the UE establishes a session, the UE needs to establish the corresponding session according to the requirements of the routing selection component. Optionally, the routing selection component may include an access type preference. This parameter currently may have three values, indicating 3GPP, Non-3GPP and Multi-Access. When 3GPP is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through the 3GPP access type. When Non-3GPP is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through the non-3GPP access type. When multi-access is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through both the 3GPP access type and the non-3GPP access type.

b) Route selection validation criteria:

The routing verification criterion is an optional parameter that may include time window information and geographic location information. These two parameters are used to verify whether the RSD containing the routing verification criterion is currently available. Only when the UE's current time meets the time window information requirements and the geographic location meets the geographic location information requirements, the UE can establish a corresponding session according to the RSD. When the RSD does not contain the corresponding conditional information, it can be considered that the RSD has no such restrictions, and the UE can establish a session at any time and/or any location.

3. Steering of roaming (SOR):

The SOR process can be used to update the configuration of the UE, such as updating the network selection list of the UE, so that the UE can select the public land mobile network (PLMN) to access according to the PLMN indicated in the network selection list. The SOR process can be divided into two types: the SOR process initiated during the registration process and the SOR process triggered after the registration process, which are introduced below.

As shown in Figure 2, the specific process of the SOR process initiated in the registration process is as follows:

S201, UE sends a registration request message to AMF.

The registration request message carries the registration type and UE identification information.

There are several types of registration:

1) Initial registration: The registration process initiated when the UE is in the deregistered state.

2) Mobility registration update: The registration process that needs to be initiated when the UE moves.

3) Periodic registration update: When the UE is in the registered state, the registration process is initiated due to the expiration of the periodic registration update timer.

4) Emergency registration: The registration process initiated when the UE is in a service-restricted state.

The identification information of the UE can be a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI), a 5G globally unique temporary identifier (5G-GUTI), which is allocated by the AMF serving the UE, or a permanent equipment identifier (PEI). If the UE can provide a valid 5G-GUT, the 5G-GUTI is carried in the registration request. If the UE cannot provide a valid 5G-GUTI, the SUCI is carried in the registration request. In emergency registration, if the UE cannot provide a valid 5G-GUTI and cannot provide a SUPI (i.e., no SUCI, the SUCI is an encrypted SUPI), the PEI is carried in the registration request.

S202: After AMF receives the registration request message from the UE, it needs to authenticate the UE.

S203, AMF sends a UE context registration request (Nudm_UECM_Registration request) message to UDM.

S204, UDM sends a registration UE context response (Nudm_UECM_Registration response) message to AMF.

When the UE is authenticated, the AMF registers the UE context with the UDM, executing S203-S204.

S205, AMF sends a contract data acquisition request (Nudm_SDM_Get request) message to UDM.

If the AMF does not have the UE's subscription data, the AMF also needs to obtain the UE's subscription data from the UDM.

Optionally, in S206a, UDM decides to trigger a SOR process.

If the subscription information of the UE indicates that the SOR procedure can be triggered based on the initial registration of the UE in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN), then when the UE performs initial registration in the VPLMN (that is, the AMF is the AMF in the VPLMN, or V-AMF), the UDM (that is, the UDM in the home public land mobile network (HPLMN), or H-UDM) shall trigger the SOR procedure to the UE. Alternatively, the UDM may also trigger the SOR procedure based on the operator policy.

It can be understood that the UDM mentioned in the embodiment of the present application can be understood as the UDM in the HPLMN when there is no special explanation. The AMF mentioned in the embodiment of the present application can be understood as the AMF in the VPLMN or the AMF in the HPLMN when there is no special explanation. For example, if the UE is registered to the HPLMN, the AMF is the AMF of the HPLMN, and if the UE is registered to the VPLMN, the AMF is the AMF of the VPLMN.

Optionally, S206b, UDM sends a SOR get request (Nsoraf_SoR_Get request) message to the steering of roaming application function (SOR-AF).

Optionally, S206c, SOR-AF sends a SOR get response (Nsoraf_SoR_Get response) message to UDM.

Optionally, S206d, UDM performs security verification on the information.

If the UDM is to provide SOR to the UE when the UE registers in the VPLMN, and there is no HPLMN policy for SOR-AF invocation, S206b-S206c are not executed. The UDM obtains the saved network selection list from the UDR. If the UDM is to provide SOR to the UE when the UE registers in the VPLMN, and there is an HPLMN policy for SOR-AF invocation, the UDM obtains the network selection list from the SOR-AF through S206b-S206c. At this time, after the UDM obtains the UE's network selection list from the SOR-AF, the UDM can also execute S206d to perform security verification on the network selection list.

S207, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response (Nudm_SDM_Get response) message to AMF.

When UDM determines the information of SOR (such as the UE's network selection list), UDM can send a subscription data acquisition response message to AMF, carrying the UE subscription data and the network selection list.

Optionally, S208, AMF sends a contract data subscription request (Nudm_SDM_Subscribe request) message to UDM.

The subscription data subscription request message is used to indicate that if UDM has any changes to the UE's subscription data, UDM needs to send the UE's latest subscription data to AMF according to the requirements of the subscription data subscription request message.

S209, AMF sends a registration accept message to the UE.

The AMF includes the network selection list received by the AMF from the UE in the registration acceptance message.

S210, UE sends a registration complete message to AMF.

The UE performs security verification on the received network selection list. If the security verification is successful and the UDM does not require sending a feedback message, the UE sends a registration completion message to the AMF, which does not include a SOR confirmation message. If the security verification fails, or the UE is configured to receive SOR information, such as a network selection list, but does not receive the corresponding network selection list in the registration acceptance message, the UE sends a registration completion message to the AMF, which does not include a SOR confirmation message. If the security verification is successful and the UDM requires sending a feedback message, the UE sends a registration completion message to the AMF, which includes a SOR confirmation message.

Optionally, in S211, AMF sends a SOR confirmation message to UDM.

If AMF receives the SOR confirmation message, AMF shall provide the SOR confirmation message to UDM. After UDM receives the SOR confirmation message, UDM can determine whether it needs to feedback to SOR-AF based on the operator policy or the requirements in the UE's subscription data. If UDM needs to feedback to SOR-AF, UDM will feedback the SOR confirmation message to SOR-AF.

Optionally, in S212, the UE re-executes network selection according to the received network selection list and selects a high-priority network access.

As shown in Figure 3, the specific process of the SOR process triggered after the registration process is as follows:

Optionally, S301, SOR-AF sends a parameter provision update request (Nudm_ParameterProvision_Update request) message to UDM.

If UDM supports obtaining a list of preferred PLMN/access technology combinations (preferred PLMN/access technology combinations) from SOR-AF, that is, the network selection list, the SOR-AF can send a parameter provision update request to the HPLMN UDM to carry the network selection list.

S302, UDM sends a contract data notification (Nudm_SDM_Notification) message to AMF.

The subscription data notification message may include an updated network selection list. Among them, UDM can obtain the updated network selection list (such as sent by SOR-AF in S300, or obtained from UDR). UDM notifies AMF of the user profile update. Optionally, the updated network selection list information can be included in the roaming switching information (steering of roaming information). At this time, UDM can send a subscription data notification message to AMF to carry the updated network selection list.

S303, AMF sends a downlink NAS transport (DL NAS Transport) message to the UE.

The downlink NAS transmission message may include the information obtained by AMF from UDM, that is, AMF transparently transmits the information obtained from UDM to UE. In other words, if UDM sends an updated network selection list to AMF, the downlink NAS message includes the network selection list. If UDM sends roaming switching information to AMF, and the roaming switching information includes an updated network selection list, the downlink NAS transmission message also includes the roaming switching information.

S304: UE performs security check.

If the UE receives the above roaming switching information or updated network selection list, the UE needs to perform a security check to confirm that the information is provided by the HPLMN. If the security check is successful, the UE will upload the information to the user service identity module (USIM) card, or replace the information previously stored by the UE.

S305, UE sends an uplink NAS transport (UL NAS Transport) message to AMF.

If the UDM requests the UE to feedback a response message, the UE may include the response message in the uplink NAS transmission message. Optionally, the response message may be a message in a roaming switching transparent container (SOR transparent container) included in the uplink NAS transmission message, specifically a subscription data information request (Nudm_SDM_Info request) message.

S306: AMF sends a subscription data information request message to UDM

The UDM verification subscription data request information message is sent by the UE.

Optionally, S307, UDM sends a contract data information request (Nsoraf_SoR_Info request) message to SOR-AF.

If the updated network selection list is provided by the SOR-AF, the UDM may execute S307 to indicate that the network selection list has been successfully transmitted to the UE.

4. Session establishment process:

As shown in Figure 4, 3GPP defines the session establishment process as follows:

S401, UE sends a PDU session establishment request message (PDU Session Establishment Request) to AMF. The PDU session establishment request message is a NAS message, carrying parameters such as PDU session identifier (PDU session ID), request type (request type), UE requested data network name (UErequested DNN), slice information (S-NSSAI), etc.

S402, AMF selects a suitable SMF.

S403, AMF sends a PDU session creation session context request (Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request) message to SMF. The PDU session creation session context request message carries parameters such as UE's SUPI and PDU session identifier.

Optionally, at S404, the SMF obtains session management subscription data from the UDM. The subscription data may include information on whether to allow the session to be established.

S405, SMF sends a PDU session create session context response (Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Response) message to AMF.

Optionally, S406, the network executes a PDU session authentication or authorization process.

S407, SMF selects PCF. If dynamic PCC rules are required, SMF selects PCF and establishes a session policy association with the PCF. For example, SMF sends a policy association establishment request (SM Policy Association Establishment Request) message to PCF, and PCF sends a policy association establishment response (SM Policy Association Establishment Response) message to SMF.

S408, SMF selects a suitable UPF.

Optionally, at S409, SMF sends a session policy modification (SMF initiated SM Policy Association Modification) message to PCF. For example, if PCF has subscribed to events from SMF in advance, such as UE time zone change or location change, SMF can report the change information to PCF via the session policy modification message.

S410, SMF establishes an N4 connection with UPF. Specifically, as in S410a, SMF sends an N4 session establishment/modification request (N4 Session Establishment/Modification Request) message to UPF, which includes N4 rules, such as packet detection rule (PDR), forwarding action rule (FAR) and other rules. And, as in S410b, UPF sends an N4 session establishment/modification response (N4 Session Establishment/Modification Response) message to SMF.

S411, SMF sends a N1N2 message transfer (Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer) message to AMF, which contains information such as session identifier, N2 interface session management information (N2 SM information) and N1 interface session management container (N1 SM Container). Among them, N2 interface session management information is a message sent by SMF to RAN through AMF. N2 interface session management information also contains information such as the tunnel endpoint identifier of UPF, which is used to inform RAN where the uplink data should be sent (which can be understood as the destination address of the uplink data). The information in the N1 interface session management container is the information sent by SMF to UE through AMF, and AMF will subsequently send this information to UE through NAS message.

S412, AMF sends an N2 PDU Session Request message to RAN, which carries the N2 interface session management information and the NAS message that needs to be sent to the UE. The NAS message includes the session identifier and the N1 interface session management container.

S413, RAN establishes air interface resources with the UE. For example, RAN sends the above NAS message to the UE. The NAS message may also carry a PDU session establishment accept message.

S414, RAN sends an N2 PDU Session Response message to AMF, which carries the tunnel endpoint identifier on the RAN side, that is, the AN tunnel endpoint identifier information.

S415, AMF sends a PDU session update session context request (Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request) message to SMF, which carries the AN tunnel endpoint identification information.

S416, SMF sends the AN tunnel endpoint identification information to UPF through the N4 session modification process. For example, S416a, SMF sends an N4 session modification request message to UPF, which includes the AN tunnel endpoint identification information to inform UPF where the downlink data should be sent. And, S416b, UPF sends an N4 session modification response message to SMF.

S417, SMF sends a PDU session update session context response (Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Response) message to AMF.

5. 3GPP connection architecture:

As shown in FIG5 , the existing 3GPP architecture supports UE to access the network through both 3GPP access type (3GPP access type) and non-3GPP access type (N3GPP access type). The so-called 3GPP access type means that the access type of the access network is 3GPP access type. 3GPP access type can include the following access technologies: LTE (corresponding to 4G cellular network), NR (corresponding to 5G cellular network), or satellite access methods defined by 3GPP, including low-orbit satellites, medium-orbit satellites, synchronous satellites, etc. Non-3GPP access types include untrusted non-3GPP access technologies (untrusted non-3GPP access), for example, accessing the core network through wireless access nodes purchased by individuals, trusted non-3GPP access technologies (trusted non-3GPP access), for example, accessing the core network through wireless access nodes deployed by operators, and wireline access technologies (wireline access). Non-3GPP access types can be wireless fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.

6. Network selection:

When the UE wants to obtain access to the network to obtain services, it must first select a network. After selecting a suitable network for registration, the UE can obtain services normally.

Currently, 3GPP defines network selection as follows:

First, when the UE is turned on, it is determined whether the UE has a subscriber identity module (SIM) card. If the UE does not have a SIM card or the UE's SIM card is unavailable, the UE is in the NO SIM state. At this time, it is necessary to wait for the SIM card to be available before selecting a network.

If the current SIM card of the UE is available, the UE needs to determine whether there is an RPLMN (register PLMN), that is, the PLMN that was registered last time. When the UE has an RPLMN, it will try to initiate registration from the RPLMN first. The information of the RPLMN can be saved in the SIM card or in the UE.

If the UE selects RPLMN, it will try to register with the RPLMN. If the registration fails, it will select a network based on the network selection list. If the registration is successful, it will indicate which PLMN is selected and enter the ON PLMN state.

If the UE does not have RPLMN, or RPLMN registration fails, it will select a network according to the network selection list, and try to register in order according to the priority of the network selection list. If the registration is successful, it will enter the online state. If the registration fails, and there are still networks in the network selection list that have not been tried, it will continue to try to register according to the network selection list. If the registration fails and there is no network to be selected in the network selection list, the UE will determine whether there is an available PLMN. If so, it will try to register. If not, it will enter the waiting state.

When the UE is online, there are several situations that may trigger network reselection:

If the UE is currently connected to a VPLMN, the UE will periodically perform network reselection. When a cycle ends, the UE will search for a network with a higher priority. If no network with a higher priority appears, the UE will maintain the current online state. If a network with a higher priority appears, the UE will select the network with a higher priority and try to access it.

When the network currently accessed by the UE loses coverage, the UE will determine whether there is an available network access. If there is an available network, the network will be selected according to priority. If not, the UE will enter a waiting state. If the last registered network is available at this time, the UE will resume the online state. If other available networks appear, the UE will select the network access according to priority.

The user can manually trigger network reselection. At this time, the UE adds the last registered network to the temporarily banned list, and then reselects a network according to the network selection list.

If the UE receives a roaming prohibition indication and the UE is currently connected to a VPLMN, it is necessary to trigger UE network reselection.

It can be seen that in the existing network selection technology, the UE usually only obtains services in one network. After the UE selects a network and successfully registers, the UE is in the network state. If the UE triggers network reselection, the UE will select a new network to replace the current network. The UE cannot access two or more networks at the same time, and cannot adapt to more flexible communication needs in the future.

In response to the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application propose the following technical solutions.

The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the embodiments of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein there is an association between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (for example, specified by the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common parts of each piece of information can also be identified and indicated uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately.

In addition, the specific indication method may also be various existing indication methods, such as but not limited to the above-mentioned indication methods and various combinations thereof. The specific details of the various indication methods can refer to the prior art and will not be repeated herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when it is necessary to indicate multiple information of the same type, different indication methods may be used for different information. In the specific implementation process, the desired indication method can be selected according to specific needs. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the selected indication method. In this way, the indication method involved in the embodiment of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated.

It should be understood that the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and/or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Among them, the sending period and/or sending time of these sub-information can be pre-defined, for example, pre-defined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the sending end device by sending configuration information to the receiving end device.

In this application, "sending information" can be understood as one device sending information to another device, or it can also be understood as a logic module inside a device sending information to another logic module. For example, "a network device sending information" can be understood as a network device sending information to another device (such as a terminal or other network device), or it can be understood as logic module 1 in a network device sending information to logic module 2 in a network device.

In this application, "receiving information" can be understood as a device receiving information from another device, or it can also be understood as a logic module inside a device receiving information from another logic module. For example, "a network device receiving information" can be understood as a network device receiving information from another device (such as a terminal or other network device), or it can be understood as logic module 1 in a network device receiving information from logic module 2 in the network device.

In this application, "sending information to... (for example, a terminal)" or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the destination end of the information is the terminal. It can include sending information to the terminal directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (for example, a terminal)" or "receiving information from... (for example, a terminal)" or "receiving information sent by (for example, a terminal)", or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the source end of the information is the terminal, which can include directly or indirectly receiving information from the terminal. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

"Pre-definition" or "pre-configuration" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation method. Among them, "saving" can mean saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be set separately or integrated in an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially set separately and partially integrated in a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

The "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a protocol family in the communication field, a standard protocol with a similar protocol family frame structure, or a related protocol used in future communication systems, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, nor does it require the device to have a judgment action when implementing it, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "/" indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship, for example, A/B can represent A or B; "and/or" in the embodiments of the present application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships, for example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second" and the like are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second" and the like do not necessarily limit the differences. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design solutions. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete manner for ease of understanding.

The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that with the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is first described in detail by taking a communication system as an example.

FIG6 and FIG7 are schematic diagrams of the architecture of the communication system. As shown in FIG6 and FIG7 , the communication system mainly includes: network equipment and terminals.

The communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The network device may specifically be a network element in the core network 200. The network device may be a data management network element, such as UDM in 5G, or in a future communication system, it may be any network element/function/entity used to implement data management or storage and other related functions, without specific restrictions. The network device may also be a policy control network element, such as PCF, or in a future communication system, it may be any network element/function/entity used to implement policy management or control and other related functions, without specific restrictions. Alternatively, the network device may also be an access and mobility management network element, such as AMF, or in a future communication system, it may be any network element/function/entity used to implement access and mobility management and other related functions, without specific restrictions.

The terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, for example, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an airplane, a ship, a robot, a mechanical arm, a smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal.

The terminal can also be understood as a terminal device with multiple contract data. The terminal device can have multiple SIM card modules, each module can correspond to a contract data, and there is an association between the contract data. For example, two contract data can be associated with the same user. The terminal can be a user device with multiple SIM cards, or a system that integrates multiple sets of user devices, each of which has a SIM card module and a communication module, and can establish a connection with the network.

In a communication system, multiple connections can be established between a terminal and a network. Multiple connections require that a terminal can access multiple networks through multiple 3GPP access type connections at the same time, that is, establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks at the same time. Taking dual connection as an example, in the future network evolution process, due to further requirements for bandwidth or coverage, the terminal may need to access the network through two 3GPP access type connections at the same time. At this time, dual connection may have a combination of multiple wireless access technology types, for example, terrestrial network (TN) + TN, or TN + non-terrestrial network (NTN), or after the application of 6G network in the future, dual connection can also be a combination of networks of different standards, such as 5G + 6G or 6G + satellite, etc.

It can be understood that multi-connection can also be replaced by: supporting dual (or multiple) wireless capabilities (dual/Multiple radio capability), supporting dual (or multiple) 3GPP access technology (Dual/Multiple 3GPP RAT), supporting dual (or multiple) steer capabilities (Dual/Multiple steer), supporting dual (or multiple) 3GPP access (Dual/Multiple 3GPP), supporting dual (or multiple) 3GPP access types (Dual/Multiple 3GPP access type), supporting dual (or multiple) registrations (Dual/Multiple Registration), supporting the same access type (same access type), supporting the same access technology (same RAT), supporting the same access network (same access network), etc. In other words, supporting one or more of the above can be understood as the ability to establish multiple connections.

Establishing multiple connections between the terminal and the network can also be understood as the terminal device establishing connections with the network respectively through the multiple contract data it possesses. Taking multi-connection as dual connection as an example, a terminal device has two SIM card modules, each SIM card module corresponds to a contract data, and the terminal device establishes connections with the network respectively through the two SIM card modules, or a terminal device has two contract data (for example, two SUPIs), and the terminal device accesses the network (or establishes a connection with the network) respectively through the two contract data, or a terminal device integrates two sets of user devices, each set of user equipment has a contract data, and each set of user equipment is connected to the network. At this time, the terminal device as a whole establishes two connections with the network. At this time, it can be considered that the terminal device has established a dual connection with the network.

In a communication system, there may be multiple ways to trigger the establishment of multiple connections, as follows.

1) Trigger via network list:

Referring to the existing SOR process, it can be considered that when the network sends a new network list (or network selection list) to the terminal, it can trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections. To distinguish it from the existing network selection list, the new network list can be a network selection list specifically used to establish multiple connections, which can be distinguished from the existing network selection list by additional instructions or the name of the network list.

For example, the terminal may trigger the SOR process during the registration process, so that the network list is sent to the terminal through the SOR process.

In the registration process of the terminal, the terminal can actively report its capability information, such as whether the terminal supports multiple connections. Alternatively, in the registration process of the terminal, the data management network element can determine whether the network can provide multiple connection services for the terminal based on the contract data of the terminal, that is, whether the terminal has signed a contract for multiple connection services. Alternatively, in the registration process of the terminal, the data management network element can determine whether the network slice requested by the terminal requires multiple connection services. On this basis, if at least one of the following is met: the terminal supports multiple connections, the terminal has signed a contract for multiple connection services, or the network slice requested by the terminal requires multiple connection services, and the contract data of the terminal indicates that the terminal has not currently established multiple connections, the data management network element can send the network list to the terminal through the SOR process in the registration process to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections. For example, the terminal can select a network from the network list to ensure that while accessing the current network, it also accesses the network selected from the network list to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the data management network element may also inform the terminal of the strategy for establishing multiple connections through the SOR process, such as the combination of wireless access technology types for multiple connections, the time and/or area where multiple connections are allowed to be established, etc. If the data management network element does not inform the terminal of the strategy for multiple connections, it means that the network has no policy restrictions on the terminal establishing multiple connections, and the terminal can decide to establish multiple connections on its own.

For another example, the terminal may trigger the SOR process after the registration process, so as to send the network list to the terminal through the SOR process.

Considering that the establishment of multiple connections by the terminal does not need to be bound to the registration process of the terminal, after the terminal normally completes the registration process, the data management network element triggers the SOR process at any possible time point and sends the network list to the terminal to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections. For example, the data management network element can send the network list to the terminal through the SOR process when certain preset conditions are met (such as the terminal is moving within the area where multiple connections need to be established and/or it is currently the time when multiple connections need to be established) and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections.

2) Triggered by indication:

In the above-mentioned "triggering by network list" method, the network list has the function of indicating that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, or the network list can be used to implicitly indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. In other words, this method is suitable for situations where it is necessary to send a network list for establishing multiple connections to establish multiple connections, or in other words, there is a premise assumption for establishing multiple connections, that is, the terminal needs to select a network based on the sent network list and access the selected network to establish multiple connections. If the terminal does not need a new network list to establish multiple connections, or in other words, the terminal does not need to dynamically send a network list, such as the terminal is pre-equipped with a network list for establishing multiple connections locally, then the data management network element does not need to send a network list to the terminal, and can trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections only by sending instructions to the terminal, or the terminal decides to trigger the establishment of multiple connections on its own.

For example, the data management network element may send an indication to the terminal to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections when it determines that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, such as when the terminal moves within an area where multiple connections need to be established and/or it is currently a time when multiple connections need to be established, and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections.

For another example, the terminal may provide the user with a function to turn on or off multiple connections. If the user turns on multiple connections, the terminal may respond to the user's operation and decide on its own to trigger the establishment of multiple connections. Afterwards, if the user turns off multiple connections, the terminal may respond to the user's operation, trigger the release of multiple connections, and restore to a single connection with the network, that is, to establish a 3GPP access type or non-3GPP access type connection with one network.

3) Triggered by business:

One of the advantages of multiple connections over a single connection is that a larger bandwidth can be obtained. Therefore, the establishment of multiple connections can also be triggered by business.

For example, when a terminal uses certain specific services, if the service has high bandwidth requirements, the terminal can trigger the establishment of multiple connections to obtain a larger bandwidth.

The terminal can trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections based on policy information. The policy information can be a URSP rule, or any possible routing rule or policy, which is not limited. The URSP rule can be enhanced to include instructions for establishing multiple connections and policies for establishing multiple connections. When the terminal determines that a session needs to be established for a certain service (which may be a service with high bandwidth requirements), if the service matches the URSP rule, the terminal triggers the establishment of multiple connections according to the instructions of the URSP rule. Alternatively, during the process of establishing a session, the terminal can report the single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) and data network name (DNN) corresponding to the terminal's session to the data management network element or the policy control network element. If the service corresponding to the S-NSSAI and DNN is a service that requires the establishment of multiple connections, the data management network element or the policy control network element can instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections.

For another example, when the bandwidth currently provided by the network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal, the network may decide to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections to obtain a larger bandwidth.

If the access network device finds that it cannot guarantee the service of the terminal, such as the bandwidth that the access network device can provide cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the service, the access network device can report this situation to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. Alternatively, if the access and mobility management network element finds that it cannot guarantee the service of the terminal, such as the terminal currently moves to a low signal area and its signal quality cannot guarantee the service, the access and mobility management network element can report this situation to the data management network element. In this way, the data management network element can instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections.

The communication method and device of the embodiment of the present application are further introduced below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It can be understood that the present application uses the network device and the terminal as the execution subject of the interactive schematic as an example for illustration, but the present application does not limit the execution subject of the interactive schematic. For example, the method executed by the network device in the present application can also be executed by a module (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to the network device, and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the network device; the method executed by the terminal in the present application can also be executed by a module (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to the terminal, and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal functions.

The following will specifically introduce the interaction process between each network element/device in the above communication system through a method embodiment. The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applicable to the above communication system, and is specifically applied to various scenarios mentioned in the above communication system, which are specifically introduced below.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above communication system, and mainly involves the interaction between a data management network element and a terminal.

S801, when the terminal does not establish multiple connections, the data management network element obtains instruction information,

Multi-connection can refer to establishing multiple 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks, that is, multi-connection can also refer to establishing 3GPP access type connections with one or more networks at the same time, or using multiple 3GPP access types to access the same or different networks. Multiple networks can be different operator networks, such as different PLMNs, or different non-public networks (NPNs), or different PLMNs and NPNs, or any other possible networks, such as WLAN and PLMN. For example, taking PLMN as an example, while the terminal accesses and registers to PLMN#1 through the 3GPP access type, the terminal also accesses and registers to PLMN#2 through the 3GPP access type. At this time, it means that the terminal simultaneously establishes 3GPP access type connections with PLMN#1 and PLMN#2, that is, multiple connections are established. For another example, taking NPN as an example, when the terminal accesses and registers to NPN#1 through 3GPP access type, the terminal also accesses and registers to NPN#2 through 3GPP access type. At this time, it means that the terminal simultaneously establishes 3GPP access type connections with NPN#1 and NPN#2. For another example, taking NPN and PLMN as an example, when the terminal accesses and registers to NPN through 3GPP access type, the terminal also accesses and registers to PLMN through 3GPP access type. At this time, it means that the terminal simultaneously establishes 3GPP access type connections with NPN and PLMN.

The indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

In a possible implementation, the indication information may indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. For example, the indication information may include a 1-bit indication information element, the value of which is 1, indicating that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the value of which is 0, indicating that it is empty, indicating that the terminal does not need to establish multiple connections.

In another possible implementation, the indication information may also implicitly indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. For example, the indication information may be used to indicate a network list.

Among them, the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections. The new network list can be a network selection list specifically used to establish multiple connections. In other words, the network list can be a network selection list specifically used to establish multiple connections. It can be distinguished from the existing network selection list by additional indications or the name of the network list. The terminal selects and accesses the network in the network list to achieve the establishment of multiple connections. Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include the network currently accessed by the terminal to avoid the terminal continuing to select the network currently accessed by the terminal and causing the failure of multiple connection establishment. For example, the network currently accessed by the terminal is PLMN#1, and the network list can include PLMN#2, PLMN#3 and PLMN#4. Of course, the multiple networks indicated by the network list can also include the network currently accessed by the terminal, such as including the identifier of the network currently accessed by the terminal. At this time, the terminal can default not to select the currently accessed network.

In this case, since the network list already has the function of indicating that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, the indication information can implicitly indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections by indicating the network list. For example, the indication information can carry information used to indicate the network list, such as an identifier of the network list. Unlike the existing network selection list, the network list indicated by the identifier can be a network list specifically used for multiple connections, that is, the identifier of the network list can be distinguished from the identifier of the existing network selection list, and can be understood as the above-mentioned "additional indication or name of the network list". For example, the identifier of the existing network selection list is ID#1, and the identifier of the network list in the embodiment of the present application is ID#2. When the terminal receives the indication information, it can be known that the identifier of the network list carried by the indication information indicates a network list used to establish multiple connections, thereby knowing that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the network list may also indicate the types of wireless access technologies supported by the terminal for contracting by multiple networks. These types of wireless access technologies may be different. For example, the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#2 for terminal contracting is TN, the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#3 for terminal contracting is TN and NTN, and the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#4 for terminal contracting is NTN. For another example, the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#2 for terminal contracting is 5G, the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#3 for terminal contracting is 5G and 6G, and the type of wireless access technology supported by PLMN#4 for terminal contracting is 6G, etc., to avoid failure in establishing multiple connections due to unsupported wireless access technology types.

Optionally, the indication information may also carry a network list, or may not carry a network list, for example, the network list may be pre-configured locally in the terminal.

It can be understood that the above two implementations can also be implemented in combination, and the indication information can carry both the above indication information element and the above network list identifier and network list, and there is no specific limitation on this.

Optionally, the indication information may also be used to indicate a strategy for establishing multiple connections, such as including at least one of: a service strategy, an access type strategy, a location strategy, or a time strategy.

The service policy may refer to the need to establish multiple connections when the network currently accessed by the terminal (unless otherwise specified, it can be understood as a network below) cannot meet the service requirements, that is, to achieve establishment according to the service requirements and avoid redundancy. For example, the service policy may be a threshold value for the service. If the threshold value is exceeded, it is considered that the network cannot meet the service requirements and it is necessary to trigger the establishment of multiple connections. For example, the threshold value for the service may be a delay threshold value. At this time, if the transmission delay of the service (such as the air interface transmission delay or the transmission delay from the user plane anchor point to the terminal, etc.) exceeds the delay threshold value, it is considered that the current network cannot meet the service requirements, such as network congestion. For another example, the threshold value for the service may also be the threshold value of parameters such as bandwidth and packet loss rate. At this time, if the bandwidth that the network can provide for the service is less than the bandwidth threshold value, and/or the packet loss rate of the service is greater than the packet loss rate threshold value, it is considered that the current network cannot meet the service requirements. Of course, the above-mentioned implementation of the threshold value for the service is some examples and does not serve as a limitation to the embodiments of the present application. Any parameter that may be used to evaluate whether the network can meet the needs of the service can be considered as the threshold value of the embodiments of the present application, such as the queuing waiting time of the service data packet, the number of data packet retransmissions of the service, etc.

The access type strategy refers to the combination of wireless access technology types required to establish multiple connections. For example, in the case where the multiple connections are dual connections, the wireless access technology type combination can be TN+TN, or TN+NTN, or after the 6G network is applied in the future, the dual connection can also be a combination of networks of different standards, such as 5G+6G or 6G+satellite, etc. Of course, in the case where the multiple connections are 3 or more 3GPP access type connections, the wireless access technology type combination can be a combination of more wireless access technology types, such as TN+TN+TN, or TN+TN+NTN, or NTN+NTN+NTN, or 4G+5G+6G, or 5G+6G+satellite, etc., which can be arbitrarily combined according to actual needs, and so on, and will not be repeated. In this way, the decoupling of access resources can be achieved, that is, connections of different wireless access technology types use different network resources to avoid the use of the same wireless access technology type and cause network resource shortages.

Location strategy means that multiple connections need to be established in a preset area, such as a low signal area that requires communication signal enhancement, to ensure the communication quality of users in the area. For example, the location strategy may include information indicating the location of the preset area, such as information that can be recognized by the network, such as a cell identifier, or any other possible location information, such as longitude and latitude information.

The time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period, such as a time period with high business demand, to ensure the business experience within the time period. For example, the time policy may include information for indicating the preset time period, such as the preset time period is a periodic time period, and the information for indicating the preset time period may include information about the interval length of adjacent periods, information about the time period in each period in which multiple connections need to be established, such as the time period from t1 to t2 after the start time of each period, or the time period from t1 to t2 before the end time of each period.

It can be understood that if the indication information indicates the above-mentioned strategy for establishing multiple connections, it means that subsequent terminals need to establish multiple connections when necessary according to the instructions. If the indication information does not indicate the above-mentioned strategy for establishing multiple connections, it means that the network has no policy restrictions on the terminal establishing multiple connections, and the terminal can decide to establish multiple connections on its own.

It can also be understood that the triggering of establishing multiple connections by the terminal when multiple connections have not been established is an example and is not intended to be limiting. The terminal may establish multiple connections regardless of whether multiple connections have been established currently. For example, the terminal may continue to establish multiple connections when multiple connections have been established. For example, if the established multiple connections are two 3GPP access type connections, the terminal may continue to establish multiple connections, such as increasing the number to three 3GPP access type connections. Alternatively, when multiple connections have been established, the terminal triggers the UE to change the connected network according to the solution of the present invention.

S802, the data management network element sends instruction information to the terminal, and the terminal receives the instruction information.

It is understood that the data management network element sending to the terminal may include the data management network element sending to the terminal through different core network devices and/or access network devices. Among them, the message type and parameter format sent may be the same or different. It is understood that as long as the sent content plays the same role, it can be understood that the data management network element sends to the terminal.

S803: The terminal establishes multiple connections according to the instruction information.

In summary, since the network side, that is, the data management network element, can provide the indication information of multiple connections, the terminal can trigger the establishment of 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks at the same time according to the indication information, that is, access and register to multiple networks at the same time to meet the terminal's more flexible communication needs.

Each step is introduced below.

S801:

There are many ways for the data management network element to obtain indication information, such as triggering acquisition based on a report from a terminal, triggering acquisition based on a report from other network elements on the network side, or the data management network element itself deciding to trigger acquisition, which are introduced below.

Mode 1: The terminal may send the capability information of the terminal to the network. Accordingly, the data management network element may obtain the capability information of the terminal and obtain the indication information according to the capability information of the terminal.

The capability information of the terminal (or the multi-connection capability of the terminal) can be used to indicate whether the terminal supports establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks at the same time, that is, whether the terminal supports multiple connections, so as to avoid wasting communication resources by instructing the terminal to establish multiple connections because the terminal does not support multiple connections. For example, the capability information of the terminal can be a 1-bit information element, and the two values of 0/1 of the information element are used to indicate whether the terminal supports establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks at the same time.

The terminal's capability information can be reported to the network through the registration process. For example, during the terminal registration process, the terminal can send a registration request message to the access and mobility management network element. The registration request message can carry the registration type (registration type) and the terminal's identification information (such as SUCI or 5G-GUTI or PEI). The registration type can be the following existing ones: initial registration, mobility registration update, periodic registration update, or emergency registration. Alternatively, the registration type can also be a newly defined registration type, such as multi-connection registration, dual-connection registration, etc., or it can also be any possibly named registration type, which indicates that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections after registration, that is, it can trigger the network to obtain and send indication information.

The capability information of the terminal can be carried in the registration request message as an independent information element, or can also be carried in the registration request message as an information element in the wireless capability report of the terminal. After receiving the capability information of the terminal, the access and mobility management network element can report the capability information of the terminal to the data management network element when registering the context of the terminal to the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can receive a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element, and the context registration request message includes the capability information of the terminal, that is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the multi-connection capability of the terminal, or it can also be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

The data management network element determines, based on the capability information of the terminal, whether the terminal supports multiple connections and whether the terminal has not established multiple connections, and obtains indication information. For example, since the terminal needs to save the context of the terminal in the data management network element when registering in the network, the data management network element can make a judgment based on the context of the terminal. For example, if the data management network element currently saves a context of the terminal, it means that the terminal is currently connected to and registered in a network, and it can be considered that the terminal currently has not established multiple connections. If the data management network element currently saves two or more contexts of the same terminal, it means that the terminal is currently connected to and registered in multiple networks at the same time, and it can be considered that the terminal has currently established multiple connections, and there is no need to execute the subsequent processes of the embodiments of the present application.

The data management network element can obtain indication information locally from the data management network element, that is, the information carried in the indication information, such as indication cells, network lists, etc., can be pre-configured locally in the data management network element. The data management network element can obtain information such as network lists locally and encapsulate this information to obtain indication information, so as to avoid the communication overhead caused by obtaining network lists from other network elements.

Alternatively, the data management network element may obtain the indication information from other network elements. For example, the data management network element obtains the indication information from the application function. Specifically, if it is necessary to dynamically send the network list, the data management network element sends a request message to the application function network element, such as the SOR-AF, such as the SOR Get Request (Nsoraf_SoR_Get request) message. The request message may be used to request the application function network element to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Accordingly, the application function network element may receive the request message and send a response message, such as the SOR Get Response (Nsoraf_SoR_Get response) message, according to the request message. The response message may include a network list, and specifically may be indication information including the network list. For example, the application function network element may search for information about networks that can support the establishment of multiple connections locally according to the request message, and determine the network list according to the information of these networks, such as the network identifier (PLMN ID), the type of wireless access technology that the network supports the terminal to sign, and further determine the indication information, and then carry the indication information in the response message and send the response message to the data management network element. Correspondingly, the data management network element can receive the response message returned by the application function network element according to the above request message, thereby obtaining the indication information.

Optionally, when the data management network element requests a network list from the application function network element, the data management network element may also send the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal session to the application function network element. Among them, the slice information mentioned in the embodiment of the present application may be S-NSSAI, or may be replaced by any possible naming or information type, without specific limitation. The data network name mentioned in the embodiment of the present application may be DNN, or may be replaced by any possible naming or information type, without specific limitation. The slice information and/or data network name may be saved in the contract data of the terminal local to the data management network element in advance. At this time, the data management network element carries it in the above-mentioned request message and sends it to the application function network element, or may also be sent to the application function network element through other messages, without limitation. Correspondingly, the application function network element can also receive the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal session. Then, the application function network element can also determine the network list based on the multiple networks that support the slice information and/or data network name. That is, the application function network element can further determine the information of the multiple networks that support the slice information and/or data network name from the information of the network that supports establishing multiple connections found locally, and determine the network list based on the information of the multiple networks to ensure that the network that establishes multiple connections with the terminal can provide the same service as the network currently connected to the terminal to meet the business needs of the terminal.

It can be understood that for the terminal that has pre-configured the network list locally, that is, the indication information does not include the network list, the terminal can be configured to use the local network list to select multiple networks (or select additional networks) to establish multiple connections only when the indication information is received. Otherwise, it should be processed according to the logic of the prior art.

Method 2: The terminal can send the information of the terminal's slice to the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element can obtain the slice information requested by the terminal, and obtain the relevant information of the multi-connection according to the slice corresponding to the multi-connection service of the network slice.

The slice information requested by the terminal can be used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal, such as the same or different network slice. For example, the terminal can indicate a request to use S-NSSAI#1 and/or S-NSSAI#2 in the registration request message.

The slice information requested by the terminal can also be reported to the network through the registration process. For example, during the terminal registration process, the terminal can send a registration request message carrying the slice information requested by the terminal to the access and mobility management network element. The registration type carried in the registration request message can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here. After receiving the slice information requested by the terminal, the access and mobility management network element can report the terminal's capability information to the data management network element when registering the context of the terminal to the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can receive a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element, and the context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal, that is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the terminal's multi-connection needs, or it can also be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

The data management network element can determine whether there is a network slice corresponding to a service that needs to establish multiple connections (or a service with multiple connections) in the network slice requested by the terminal based on the correspondence between the network slice and the service. For example, the service that needs to establish multiple connections is the extended reality media service (XRM). The bandwidth requirement for the XRM service is relatively high, so it is necessary to establish multiple connections to ensure a large bandwidth to meet the bandwidth requirement for the XRM service. In this case, the XRM service can also be understood as a service with multiple connections. Of course, the XRM service is only an example and is not intended to be limiting. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific service form of the service with multiple connections. If there is a network slice corresponding to a service with multiple connections in the network slice requested by the terminal, and the terminal has not established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

Method 3: The data management network element may obtain the contract data of the terminal, and obtain relevant information of the multiple connections based on the contract data.

The contract data of the terminal refers to the relevant data when the terminal signs a contract with the network for services in advance, and can be pre-stored in the data management network element. If the contract data of the terminal contains information used to indicate that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, that is, it means that the terminal is a user who has signed a contract for multiple connections, or the terminal has signed a contract for multiple connections. The service is to avoid communication redundancy caused by sending multi-connection related information to unsigned users. If the contract data of the terminal does not contain information used to indicate that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, it means that the terminal has not signed a contract for multi-connection services. Of course, the information can also be a 1-bit element, and the contract data of the terminal contains this information by default. At this time, the two values of 0/1 of the information can be used to indicate whether the terminal has signed a contract for multi-connection services. Alternatively, if the contract data of the terminal contains services that require the establishment of multiple connections, such as XRM services, it can also be considered that the terminal has signed a contract for multi-connection services.

The data management network element can obtain the contract data of the terminal during the registration process of the terminal. For example, during the terminal registration process, the access and mobility management network element can send a contract data acquisition request message to the data management network element to request the data of the terminal contracted with the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element can receive the contract data acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element, and obtain the contract data of the terminal according to the contract data acquisition request message. In this way, the data management network element can determine whether the contract data of the terminal contains information for indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, or determine the value of the information, that is, reuse the existing registration process to realize the perception of the contract data of the terminal, or it can also be realized through a newly defined process, decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible. If the contract data of the terminal contains information for indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, or determines that the value of the information is to indicate that the terminal has signed a multi-connection service, and the terminal has not established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

Mode 4: The data management network element may receive service information from the access and mobility management network element, and obtain indication information according to that the service demand of the terminal is not met.

The service information is used to indicate that the service demand of the terminal is not met, such as the bandwidth provided by the network currently connected by the terminal (which can be understood as a network without special instructions) cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for bandwidth, and/or the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for signal quality, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this. At this time, the network currently connected by the terminal needs to trigger the establishment of multiple connections to provide additional network resources to meet the service demand of the terminal. For example, the service information can be a bitmap of multiple bits, so as to indicate various situations in which the service demand of the terminal is not met through different value combinations of the bitmap. For example, the bitmap is 2 bits, 00 indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network currently connected by the terminal cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for bandwidth, 01 indicates that the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for signal quality, 10 indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for bandwidth, and the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the service demand of the terminal for signal quality, and 11 is reserved. For another example, the service information can be multiple bits of enumeration type, and the value of each bit corresponds to a situation indicating whether the service demand of the terminal is met.

The service information can be reported by the access network device to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element, or can also be reported directly by the access and mobility management network element to the data management network element. The access network device or the access and mobility management network element is a network element in the network currently accessed by the terminal.

For example, when the access network device determines that the bandwidth that it can provide to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the terminal's service, the access network device can send an N2 message to the access and mobility management network element. The N2 message includes service information, which indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the terminal's service. Correspondingly, the access and mobility management network element can receive the N2 message from the access network device and send the service information to the data management network element. At this time, the service information can be carried in any possible message exchanged between the access and mobility management network element and the data management network element. Alternatively, the access network device may not perceive the total bandwidth demand of the terminal. When the bandwidth requested by the service exceeds the bandwidth that the access network device can provide, the access network device can report the bandwidth that the current access network device can provide to the access and mobility management network element. The access and mobility management network element can calculate the difference between the total bandwidth demand of the terminal and the bandwidth that can be met currently, which is the additional bandwidth provided to the terminal.

For another example, the access and mobility management network element can perform mobility management on the terminal to determine whether the terminal has moved to a low signal area. Among them, the low signal area can be pre-configured in the access and mobility management network element. The low signal area can be an area with cell granularity, such as containing one or more cells, which can be represented by the cell identifier, or the low signal area can also be an area defined by longitude and latitude information, which is not limited. If the terminal currently moves to a low signal area, the access and mobility management network element can obtain service information based on the terminal being located in the low signal area, such as obtaining pre-configured service information locally or generating service information locally, and send the service information to the data management network element. At this time, the service information can be carried in any possible message exchanged between the access and mobility management network element and the data management network element to indicate that the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

It can be understood that the access and mobility management network element can also combine the service information reported by the access network device when obtaining service information. For example, the service information reported by the access network device indicates that the bandwidth provided by the access network device to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, and at this time the access and mobility management network element also determines that the terminal has moved to a low signal area. The access and mobility management network element can generate service information indicating that the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, and the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

When the data management network element obtains the service information, the data management network element can obtain the indication information based on the service information and the terminal has not established multiple connections. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

In addition, in mode 4, the access and mobility management network element may also be replaced by a session management network element, such as a session management network element in the network currently accessed by the terminal. For example, the session management network element may subscribe to the access and mobility management network element for the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal. The access and mobility management network element may obtain the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal from the access network device according to the subscription of the session management network element, and return it to the session management network element through a subscription response. If the session management network element determines that the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, such as the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's session managed by the session management network element, the session management network element may obtain service information, such as obtaining pre-configured service information locally or generating service information locally, and send the service information to the data management network element. At this time, the service information may be carried in any possible message exchanged between the session management network element and the data management network element to indicate that the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service.

It can also be understood that the above is an introduction to whether the network can meet the business needs by taking bandwidth and/or location as an example, and it is not a limitation. Whether the network can meet the business needs may also have other implementations, such as whether the transmission delay of the business on the network side meets the requirements of the business transmission delay, whether the queuing waiting time of the data packets of the business meets the requirements of the queuing waiting time of the data packets of the business, etc. In other words, any parameter that can be used to characterize whether the business needs can be met by the network can be applied to the embodiments of the present application.

Mode 5: The data management network element can obtain indication information according to preset conditions.

The preset conditions can be pre-configured locally in the data management network element, and may specifically include at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within the time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located within the area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. That is, the data management network element can decide on its own to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections based on the current time and the current location of the terminal, thereby avoiding the additional overhead caused by interacting with other network elements.

The time period during which the terminal needs to establish multiple connections is similar to the preset time period indicated by the above-mentioned time policy, and can be used as a reference for understanding. Therefore, when the current time is the start time of the preset time period and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here. For example, the preset time period is the time period from t1 to t2 after the start time of each cycle, such as 18:00-22:00 every day, that is, the time period frequently used by users. When the current time is 18:00, the data management network element can obtain the indication information and execute the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections to ensure the user's service experience within the time period. Afterwards, when the current time is 22:00, the data management network element can instruct the terminal to release multiple connections to reduce communication overhead and facilitate terminal energy saving.

The area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections is similar to the preset area indicated by the above-mentioned location strategy. If it is the above-mentioned low-signal area, you can refer to it for understanding. The data management network element obtains the location of the terminal from the access and mobility management network element related to the terminal (or the access and mobility management network element serving the terminal) through a subscription service, or the location of the terminal can be obtained by other means, such as the access network device reporting to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. The specific selection can be based on actual needs, and there is no specific restriction on this. In this way, when the terminal currently moves to the preset area and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

Mode 6: The terminal sends the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal's session to the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element can obtain the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal's session, and obtain relevant information about multiple connections based on whether the terminal's service requires the establishment of multiple connections.

Among them, the slice information and/or data network name can correspond to the terminal's service.

The slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal's session can be reported to the network through the session establishment process. For example, in the process of establishing a session with the terminal, the terminal can send a PDU session establishment request message carrying the slice information and/or the data network name to the access and mobility management network element. The access and mobility management network element can select a session management network element, and send the slice information and/or the data network name to the session management network element through a PDU session creation session context request message. After receiving the slice information and/or the data network name, the session management network element can report the slice information and/or the data network name to the data management network element when registering the session context of the terminal with the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, during the session establishment process of the terminal, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the session management network element, and the context registration request message may include slice information and/or the data network name.

The data management network element can determine the service corresponding to the slice information and/or data network name in the context registration request message according to the correspondence between the slice information or the data network name and the service. At this time, one implementation method is: the data management network element can determine whether the service is a service that requires multiple connections, such as an XRM service, or any other possible type of service. If the service is a multi-connection service, such as an XRM service, and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here. Another implementation method is: the data management network element can determine whether the demand for the service is met, such as initiating a subscription to the access and mobility management network element or the session management network element to determine whether the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal can meet the bandwidth demand of the service. The specific implementation can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 5. When the bandwidth provided by the network currently accessed by the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the service, and the terminal has not currently established multiple connections, the data management network element can obtain the indication information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

Alternatively, the data management network element may determine that the current network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal. For example, the current network can only provide part of the slice requested by the terminal, or the service requested by the terminal cannot be provided by the current network. For example, NPN cannot provide IMS services. In the scenario where the UE accesses NPN, an additional PLMN can be selected to obtain IMS services. In this case, the data management network element triggers the establishment of multiple connections to meet the network requirements of the terminal's services.

Mode 7: When the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, the terminal can send request information to the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element can receive the request information from the terminal and obtain relevant information of the multiple connections according to the request information.

The request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections, that is, the establishment of multiple connections can be triggered by the terminal itself, so that the interaction between the terminal and the network side is simpler and the communication overhead can be smaller. For example, the terminal can provide the user with the function of turning on or off multiple connections. For example, the terminal provides a user interaction interface for multiple connections, and the user interaction interface is provided with a button to turn on or off multiple connections. The user can choose to turn on or off the function of multiple connections by clicking the button. For another example, the terminal can provide an interface for selecting a network mode. On this interface, if the user selects the network model as multiple networks, it means turning on the function of multiple connections. If the user selects the network model as a single network, it means turning off the function of multiple connections. At this time, it is necessary to release multiple connections and establish a single connection. Alternatively, the function of users turning on or off multiple connections can also be implemented in other ways, which is not limited by this application.

If the user operation turns on multiple connections, the terminal can respond to the user operation and send request information to the network, such as sending a UL NAS message carrying the request information to the access and mobility management network element. After obtaining the request information, the access and mobility management network element can send request information to the data management network element, such as sending a contract data acquisition request message carrying the request information. Correspondingly, the data management network element can receive request information from the terminal, such as receiving a contract data acquisition request message carrying the request information, that is, by reusing existing signaling, or it can also be implemented through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process and the information element transmission can be more flexible. The data management network element can obtain the indication information based on the request information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

It should be pointed out that the above-mentioned methods 1 to 7 can also be implemented in combination. For example, method 1 is implemented in combination with method 2, and the data management network element can obtain indication information when the terminal supports multiple connections and the network slice requested by the terminal is the network slice corresponding to the multi-connection service. For another example, method 1 is implemented in combination with method 3, and the data management network element can obtain indication information when the terminal supports multiple connections and the terminal has signed a contract for a multi-connection service. For another example, method 1, method 3 and method 3 are implemented in combination, and the data management network element can obtain indication information when the terminal supports multiple connections, the network slice requested by the terminal is the network slice corresponding to the multi-connection service, and the terminal has signed a contract for a multi-connection service. Of course, there are other combinations, such as the combination of method 1 and method 4, the combination of method 1 and method 5, etc., which can be referred to for understanding, and the embodiments of the present application will not be repeated.

S802:

The data management network element may send indication information to the terminal through the SOR process. For example, for the SOR process in the registration process, the data management network element sends a contract data acquisition response message carrying the indication information to the access and mobility management network element. Accordingly, the access and mobility management network element receives the indication information from the data management network element, such as the contract data acquisition response message carrying the indication information, and the access and mobility management network element may carry the indication information in the registration acceptance message and then send it to the terminal. For the SOR process after the registration process, the data management network element sends a contract data acquisition response message carrying the indication information to the access and mobility management network element. Accordingly, after receiving the indication information from the data management network element, the access and mobility management network element may send the indication information to the terminal through the DL NAS transmission container.

It can be understood that the SOR process can also be understood by referring to the relevant content in the above technical terminology introduction, which will not be repeated here.

S803:

The network currently accessed by the terminal is recorded as the first network, that is, the terminal has established a 3GPP access type connection with the first network. On this basis, the terminal can select a second network from multiple networks indicated by the network list according to the indication information, such as selecting one or more second networks in order of priority from high to low, and establish a 3GPP access type connection with the second network.

If the network list also indicates that multiple networks each support the type of wireless access technology subscribed by the terminal, after selecting the second network, the terminal can also access the second network according to the type of wireless access technology subscribed by the terminal supported by the second network indicated in the network list, such as NT access or NTN access.

If the indication information also indicates a strategy for establishing multiple connections, the terminal needs to select a second network from the multiple networks indicated in the network list and establish a 3GPP access type connection with the second network when the strategy is met, such as when the terminal determines that the network the terminal is currently connected to cannot meet the service requirements, or the terminal is currently moving to a preset area, or the current time is the beginning of a preset time period. Alternatively, the terminal may also select the second network in advance so as to trigger the establishment of a 3GPP access type connection with the second network when the strategy is met. In addition, if the strategy for establishing multiple connections indicates an access type strategy, the terminal should consider the type of wireless access technology that the network supports the terminal to sign when selecting a network, so that the combination of the wireless access technology type of the selected second network and the first network can meet the requirements of the access type strategy.

It can be understood that in the above S801-S803, the data management network element usually sends indication information to the terminal to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections only when the terminal has not currently established multiple connections. Of course, the data management network element may also not consider whether the terminal has currently established multiple connections. The data management network element sends indication information to the terminal by default. At this time, if the terminal has established multiple connections, the terminal can ignore the indication information, or the terminal can also update the multiple connections according to the indication information, such as selecting a new network access from the network list indicated by the indication information. For example, the terminal has established multiple connections for the terminal to establish 3GPP access type connections with PLMN#1 and PLMN#2 respectively. At this time, the terminal can establish an additional 3GPP access type connection with PLMN#3 according to the latest issued network list, or it can first release the 3GPP access type connection with PLMN#2, and then establish a 3GPP access type connection with PLMN#3.

It can be understood that the above is an example of the network sending a network list or the network list being pre-stored in the terminal locally, but it is not a limitation. The terminal can also have other ways to obtain the network list. For example, the terminal can dynamically build a network list locally. One implementation is: the terminal obtains a network selection list in advance, and the network selection list can be an existing list, such as that obtained through the process defined in the above "3. Steering of roaming (SOR)". The above-mentioned indication information sent by the network to the terminal can be the type of wireless access technology supported by multiple connections, or the type of wireless access technology supported by the second network. The terminal can select a network that supports the type of wireless access technology from the network selection list, and use these networks to construct the network list in the embodiment of the present application.

The above describes the arrangement process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application in conjunction with Figure 8. The following describes in detail the specific process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application in a specific scenario in conjunction with Figures 9 to 12.

Scenario 1:

Fig. 9 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In scenario 1, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can send the indication information to the UE (the above-mentioned terminal) through the SOR process in the registration process of the UE.

Specifically, as shown in FIG9 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

S901, UE sends a registration request message to AMF (the above-mentioned access and mobility management network element).

Among them, the registration request message can carry the UE capability information (such as the capability information of the above-mentioned terminal) to indicate whether the UE supports multiple connections. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S902, AMF sends a register UE context request message to UDM.

In the case where the UE provides the UE capability information, the UE context request message may carry the UE capability information.

S903, UDM determines whether the UE has subscribed to the multi-connection service.

When the UE's capability information indicates that the UE supports multiple connections, the UDM can determine whether there is a multi-connection service in the UE's contract data, that is, determine whether the UE has signed a contract for a multi-connection service. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 2, which will not be repeated here. If the UE signs a contract for a multi-connection service, continue with the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application. Otherwise, if the UE's capability information indicates that the UE does not support multiple connections, or the UE has not signed a contract for a multi-connection service, execute the process of the prior art.

S904, UDM sends a register UE context response message to AMF.

S905, AMF sends a contract data acquisition request message to UDM.

Among them, the specific implementation principles of S904-S905 can refer to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

S906: UDM determines whether the UE currently has multiple connections established.

AMF requests UDM to obtain the subscription data of the UE through a subscription data acquisition request message, which can trigger UDM to determine whether the UE is currently establishing multiple connections. For example, UDM can determine whether UDM stores one or more subscription data of the UE. If it is one subscription data of the UE, the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application is continued, otherwise, UDM does not trigger the subsequent SOR process.

It is understandable that S903 and S906 may also be executed together.

S907, UDM sends a SOR acquisition request message to SOR-AF (the above-mentioned application function network element).

S908, the SOR-AF sends a SOR acquisition response message to the UDM.

The SOR acquisition request message can be used to request the SOR-AF to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the SOR acquisition request message may also carry the S-NSSAI and/or DNN corresponding to the UE's session. The SOR acquisition request message may carry the above-mentioned network list. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S909, UDM verifies information security.

The UDM can verify the security of the network list. If the verification is successful, the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application will continue. Otherwise, the process will fail.

It should be understood that S907-S909 are optional processes, and the UDM network element can obtain the network list locally, or, when the UE is pre-configured with a network list, that is, when there is no need for the network to dynamically send the network list, S907-S909 are not executed.

S910, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response message to AMF.

The subscription data acquisition response message may carry the subscription data of the UE and indication information, and the indication information may be used to indicate that the UE needs to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the indication information may also include a network list.

S911, UDM sends a registration acceptance message to the UE.

The registration accept message may be used to indicate that the UE has successfully registered with the network, and the registration accept message may also include the above-mentioned indication information.

It can be seen that S910-S911 is the SOR process in the registration process, and the SOR information, such as the network list, is sent to the UE by reusing the message of the registration process.

S912: UE establishes multiple connections.

The specific implementation principle of S912 can refer to the related introduction of S803 above, which will not be repeated here.

Scenario 2:

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In scenario 2, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can send the indication information to the UE (the above-mentioned terminal) through the SOR process in the registration process of the UE.

Specifically, as shown in FIG10 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

S1001, UE sends a registration request message to AMF (the above-mentioned access and mobility management network element).

Among them, the registration request message can carry the UE capability information (such as the capability information of the above-mentioned terminal) to indicate whether the UE supports multiple connections. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S1002, AMF sends a register UE context request message to UDM.

In the case where the UE provides the UE capability information, the UE context request message may carry the UE capability information.

S1003, UE registers to the network.

S1003 is the registration process that continues to be executed after S1002. The specific implementation principle can be found in the relevant introduction of the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

S1004: UDM determines whether the UE needs to establish multiple connections.

When the UE supports multiple connections and the UE has not currently established multiple connections, the UDM can determine whether the UE needs to establish multiple connections based on the UE's location and/or the current time. The specific implementation principle can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 5, which will not be repeated here. If the UE is to establish multiple connections, continue the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application, otherwise, the UDM does not trigger the subsequent SOR process.

S1005, UDM sends a SOR acquisition request message to SOR-AF (the above-mentioned application function network element).

S1006, SOR-AF sends a SOR acquisition response message to UDM.

The SOR acquisition request message can be used to request the SOR-AF to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the SOR acquisition request message may also carry the S-NSSAI and/or DNN corresponding to the UE's session. The SOR acquisition request message may carry the above-mentioned network list. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S1007, UDM verifies information security.

The UDM can verify the security of the network list. If the verification is successful, the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application will continue. Otherwise, the process will fail.

It should be understood that S1005-S1007 are optional processes, and the UDM network element can obtain the network list locally, or, when the UE is pre-configured with a network list, that is, when there is no need for the network to dynamically send the network list, S1005-S1007 are not executed.

S1008, UDM sends a contract data notification message to AMF.

The subscription data notification message may carry indication information, and the indication information may be used to indicate that the UE needs to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the indication information may also include a network list.

S1009, AMF sends DL NAS message to UE.

DL NAS messages can carry the above-mentioned indication information.

It can be seen that S1008-S1009 is the SOR process after the registration process, which implements sending the SOR information, such as the network list, to the UE.

S1010, UE establishes multiple connections.

The specific implementation principle of S1010 can refer to the related introduction of S803 above, which will not be repeated here.

Scenario 3:

Fig. 11 is a fourth flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In scenario 4, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can trigger the sending of indication information to the UE according to the request of the UE (the above-mentioned terminal) to establish multiple connections.

Specifically, as shown in FIG11 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

S1101, UE enables the multi-connection function.

S1102, UE completes registration in the network.

The specific implementation principle of S1101 can refer to the relevant introduction of mode 7 in the above S801, which will not be repeated here. The specific implementation principle of S1102 can refer to the relevant introduction of the registration process defined in 3GPP, which will not be repeated here. In addition, the execution order of S1101 and S1102 is not limited.

S1103, UE sends UL NAS message to AMF.

UL NAS messages can carry request information for the terminal to request the establishment of multiple connections.

S1104, AMF sends a contract data acquisition request message to UDM.

The contract signing data acquisition request message sent may carry the above request information.

S1105, UDM sends a SOR acquisition request message to SOR-AF (the above-mentioned application function network element).

S1106, the SOR-AF sends a SOR acquisition response message to the UDM.

The SOR acquisition request message can be used to request the SOR-AF to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the SOR acquisition request message may also carry the S-NSSAI and/or DNN corresponding to the UE's session. The SOR acquisition request message may carry the above-mentioned network list. The specific principle can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S1107, UDM verifies information security.

The UDM can verify the security of the network list. If the verification is successful, the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application will continue. Otherwise, the process will fail.

It should be understood that S1105-S1107 are optional processes, and the UDM network element can obtain the network list locally, or, when the UE is pre-configured with a network list, that is, when there is no need for the network to dynamically send the network list, S1105-S1107 are not executed.

S1108, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response message to AMF.

The subscription data notification message may carry indication information, and the indication information may be used to indicate that the UE needs to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the indication information may also include a network list.

S1109, AMF sends DL NAS message to UE.

DL NAS transmissions can carry the above-mentioned indication information.

S1110, UE establishes multiple connections.

The specific implementation principle of S1110 may refer to the related introduction of S803 above, which will not be repeated here.

Scenario 4:

Fig. 12 is a flow chart 5 of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In scenario 4, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can send the indication information to the UE (the above-mentioned terminal) through the session establishment process of the UE.

Specifically, as shown in FIG12 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

S1201, session establishment process.

The session establishment process may be to execute S401 - S416b shown in FIG. 4 . For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of FIG. 4 , which will not be described again.

S1202, SMF sends a UE session context registration request (Nudm_UECM_Registration request) message to UDM.

The UE session context registration request may carry the UE's S-NSSAI and/or DNN (the S-NSSAI and/or DNN of the above-mentioned terminal).

S1203, UDM sends a SOR acquisition request message to SOR-AF (the above-mentioned application function network element).

S1204, the SOR-AF sends a SOR acquisition response message to the UDM.

The SOR acquisition request message can be used to request the SOR-AF to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the SOR acquisition request message may also carry the S-NSSAI and/or DNN of the UE. The SOR acquisition request message may carry the above-mentioned network list. The specific principle can also be referred to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

S1205, UDM verifies information security.

The UDM can verify the security of the network list. If the verification is successful, the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application will continue. Otherwise, the process will fail.

It should be understood that S1203-S1205 are optional processes, and the UDM network element can obtain the network list locally, or, when the UE is pre-configured with a network list, that is, when there is no need for the network to dynamically send the network list, S1203-S1205 are not executed.

S1206, UDM sends a contract data notification message to AMF.

The subscription data notification message may carry indication information, which may be used to indicate that the UE needs to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the indication information may also include a network list. That is, the UDM may trigger the acquisition of indication information based on the UE's S-NSSAI and/or DNN, and execute S1205-S1206. The specific implementation principle may refer to the relevant introduction of mode 6 in the above S801, which will not be repeated here.

S1207, AMF sends DL NAS message to UE.

DL NAS transmissions can carry the above-mentioned indication information.

S1208: UE establishes multiple connections.

The specific implementation principle of S1208 can refer to the related introduction of S803 above, which will not be repeated here.

Fig. 13 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above communication system, and mainly involves the interaction between the terminal and the network.

S1301: When a service of a terminal needs to be executed, the terminal obtains policy information matching the service of the terminal.

The policy information may be a URSP rule, or any policy or rule related to routing, which is not limited. The URSP rule may be an enhanced URSP rule, which may indicate multiple connections, such as defining that the terminal needs to establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple networks at the same time, that is, similar to the meaning of the above-mentioned indication information, which may also be understood by reference, and will not be described in detail. Optionally, the URSP rule may also indicate a multi-connection strategy, such as a combination of wireless access technology types required to establish multiple connections, or other strategies, which may also be referred to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned strategy, and will not be described in detail here.

When the terminal needs to execute a certain service, for example, the terminal responds to the user's operation to open a certain application, such as an XRM application or any other possible application, then the terminal needs to execute the service corresponding to the application, such as the XRM service or any other possible service. At this time, the terminal can determine the URSP rule according to the service volume descriptor, such as matching the URSP rule with the service feature indicated by the service volume descriptor, that is, determining the URSP rule matching the service.

S1302: If the policy information indicates that multiple connections need to be established, multiple connections are established.

If the URSP rule matching the service is the enhanced URSP rule, the terminal can establish multiple connections with the network according to the instructions of the URSP rule (such as according to policy information or the terminal's own decision). The specific implementation principle is similar to that of S803 above, which can be understood by reference and will not be repeated here.

Of course, the embodiment of the present application takes the URSP rule as an example, but is not limited to the URSP rule. Any strategy and/or rule similar to the URSP rule, or capable of implementing the routing function, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

In summary, the terminal can match the policy information and trigger the establishment of multiple connections when the service matches the policy information that requires the establishment of multiple connections, so as to ensure that the multiple connections can meet the needs of the service and ensure the user experience.

In a possible design scheme, in combination with the above S1301-S1302, before S1301, the method may also include: when the policy information of the terminal needs to be updated, the policy control network element may obtain the new policy information of the terminal and send the new policy information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal may also receive policy information from the network and configure it locally in the terminal. At this time, the new policy information may be the above-mentioned enhanced URSP rule. Among them, the policy control network element may obtain the new policy information from the application function, or the new policy information may be manually configured to the policy control network element, which is not limited.

The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 8 to 13. The communication device for executing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 14 to 15.

Fig. 14 is a structural schematic diagram 1 of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, as shown in Fig. 14, a communication device 1400 includes: a transceiver module 1401 and a processing module 1402. For ease of description, Fig. 14 only shows the main components of the communication device.

In a first possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the data management network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the data management network element, as follows.

The processing module 1402 is used to obtain indication information when the terminal has not established multiple connections, and the transceiver module 1401 is used to send indication information to the terminal. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In a possible design, the indication information includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated in the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to obtain indication information from an application function.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is also used to send slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal session to the application function network element before obtaining indication information from the application function; the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that support slice information and/or data network names.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include a network currently accessed by the terminal.

In a possible design, the network list further indicates the types of wireless access technologies subscribed by the terminal supported by the multiple networks.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive capability information of the terminal, and the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain indication information according to the capability information of the terminal. The capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive a context registration request message from an access and mobility management network element during terminal registration, wherein the context registration request message includes capability information of the terminal.

In a possible design scheme, the processing module 1402 is also used to obtain the slice information requested by the terminal, and obtain the indication information according to whether the network slice is a slice corresponding to the multi-connected service. The slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is also used to receive a context registration request message from an access and mobility management network element during the terminal registration process, wherein the context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal.

In a possible design, the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain the subscription data of the terminal and obtain the indication information according to the subscription data of the terminal, wherein the subscription data of the terminal indicates that the terminal supports multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive a subscription data acquisition request message from an access and mobility management network element during terminal registration, and the processing module 1402 is further configured to acquire the subscription data of the terminal according to the subscription data acquisition request message. The subscription data acquisition request message is used to request data signed by the terminal and the network.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive service information from an access and mobility management network element, and the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain indication information according to the service requirement of the terminal not being met. The service information is used to indicate that the service requirement of the terminal is not met.

Optionally, the unmet service demand of the terminal includes: the bandwidth provided to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the terminal's service, and/or the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality demand of the terminal's service, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this.

In one possible design scheme, the processing module 1402 is also used to obtain indication information according to preset conditions, wherein the preset conditions include at least one of the following: the terminal is currently in a time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located in an area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain the location of the terminal from an access and mobility management network element through a subscription service.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive request information from a terminal, and the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain indication information according to the request information, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive a subscription data management acquisition request message from an access and mobility management network element, wherein the subscription data management acquisition request message includes request information.

In one possible design, processing module 1402 is further used to obtain slice information and/or a data network name corresponding to a session of the terminal, and obtain indication information according to whether the service of the terminal requires the establishment of multiple connections. The slice information and/or the data network name corresponds to the service of the terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is also used for the data management network element to receive a context registration request message from the session management network element during the session establishment process of the terminal, wherein the context registration request message includes slice information and/or data network name.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

In a second possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the application function network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the application function network element, as follows.

The transceiver module 1401 is used to receive a request message, and the processing module 1402 is used to control the transceiver module 1401 to send a response message according to the request message. The request message is used to request the application function network element to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time. The 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks. The response message includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

It can be understood that the application function network element may specifically be a roaming handover application function SOR-AF network element, or any other possible type of AF network element, and there is no limitation on this.

In one possible design scheme, the transceiver module 1401 is also used to receive slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the terminal session, and the processing module 1402 is also used to determine the network list based on multiple networks that support slice information and/or data network names.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include a network currently accessed by the terminal.

Optionally, the network list further indicates the types of wireless access technologies subscribed by the terminal supported by the multiple networks.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

In a third possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the access and mobility management network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the access and mobility management network element, as follows.

The processing module 1402 is used to control the transceiver module 1401 to send service information to the data management network element. The transceiver module 1401 is used to receive the indication information of the data management network element according to the service information and send the indication information to the terminal. The service information indicates that the service demand of the terminal is not met; the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, which means that multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections are established at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive an N2 message from an access network device, the N2 message including service information. The processing module 1402 is further configured to determine, based on the service information, that the access network device cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal.

Optionally, the processing module 1402 is further configured to obtain service information according to the terminal being located in a low signal area, wherein the service information is specifically used to indicate that the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality requirement of the service of the terminal.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

In a fourth possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applicable to the module (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the terminal in the above communication method, and may also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of description, the following description takes the method executed by the terminal as an example.

The transceiver module 1401 is used to receive the indication information, and the processing module 1402 is used to establish multiple connections according to the indication information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In one possible design, the terminal has established a 3GPP access type connection with the first network, and the processing module 1402 is further configured to select a second network from multiple networks indicated by the network list according to the indication information, and establish a 3GPP access type connection with the second network. The multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include the first network.

Optionally, the network list further indicates the types of wireless access technologies subscribed by the terminal supported by the multiple networks.

Optionally, the indication information is also used to indicate a network list.

In a possible design scheme, the transceiver module 1401 is further used to send capability information of the terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections.

In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is also used to send the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal. The slice information and/or data network name corresponds to the service of the terminal, and the service of the terminal is a service that requires establishing multiple connections.

In a possible design scheme, the transceiver module 1401 is further used to send request information when the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

In one possible design scheme, the processing module 1402 is also used to determine that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections in response to the user's operation of starting multiple connections; or; the processing module 1402 is also used to obtain policy information matching the terminal's business when the terminal's business needs to be executed; when the policy information indicates that multiple connections need to be established, determine that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal, or a device including a terminal, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

In a fifth possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applicable to the module (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the terminal in the above communication method, and may also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of description, the following is an example of the method being executed by the terminal.

The processing module 1402 is used to obtain policy information matching the terminal's business when the terminal's business needs to be executed; if the policy information indicates that multiple connections need to be established, the transceiver module 1401 is controlled to establish multiple connections, wherein multiple connections refer to simultaneously establishing connections of the Third Generation Partnership Project 3GPP access type, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks.

In one possible design, the terminal has established a 3GPP access type connection with the first network, and the processing module 1402 is used to select a second network from multiple networks indicated by the network list, and control the transceiver module 1401 to establish a 3GPP access type connection with the second network. The network list is indicated by policy information, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections.

In a possible design, transceiver module 1401 is further configured to receive policy information from a network.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal, or a device including a terminal, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

In a sixth possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the policy control network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the policy control network element, as follows.

The processing module 1402 is used to obtain new policy information of the terminal when the policy information of the terminal needs to be updated, and the transceiver module 1401 is used to send new policy information to the terminal. The policy information is used to indicate that multiple connections need to be established. Multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time. The 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks. That is, by updating the policy information, the terminal can have the ability to establish multiple connections.

In a possible design, the new policy information further indicates a combination of radio access technology types required to establish multiple connections.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG. 14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ), which stores a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions in the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 above.

It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device, which is not limited in this application.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

FIG15 is a second schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that may be provided in a terminal. As shown in FIG15 , a communication device 1500 may include a processor 1501. Optionally, the communication device 1500 may further include a memory 1502 and/or a transceiver 1503. The processor 1501 is coupled to the memory 1502 and the transceiver 1503, such as by a communication bus.

The following is a detailed introduction to the various components of the communication device 1500 in conjunction with FIG15 :

The processor 1501 is the control center of the communication device 1500, which can be a processor or a general term for multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 1501 is one or more central processing units (CPUs), or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors, DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate arrays, FPGAs).

Optionally, the processor 1501 can execute various functions of the communication device 1500 by running or executing a software program stored in the memory 1502 and calling data stored in the memory 1502, such as executing the communication method shown in Figures 8 to 13 above.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1501 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG. 15 .

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 1500 may also include multiple processors, such as the processor 1501 and the processor 1504 shown in FIG15. Each of these processors may be a single-core processor (single-CPU) or a multi-core processor (multi-CPU). The processor here may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

The memory 1502 is used to store the software program for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 1501. The specific implementation method can refer to the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the memory 1502 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1502 may be integrated with the processor 1501, or may exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1501 through an interface circuit (not shown in FIG. 15 ) of the communication device 1500, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The transceiver 1503 is used for communication with other communication devices. For example, if the communication device 1500 is a terminal, the transceiver 1503 can be used to communicate with a network device, or with another terminal device. For another example, if the communication device 1500 is a network device, the transceiver 1503 can be used to communicate with a terminal, or with another network device.

Optionally, the transceiver 1503 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not shown separately in FIG. 15 ), wherein the receiver is used to implement a receiving function, and the transmitter is used to implement a sending function.

Optionally, the transceiver 1503 may be integrated with the processor 1501, or may exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1501 via an interface circuit (not shown in FIG. 15 ) of the communication device 1500 , which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

It is understandable that the structure of the communication device 1500 shown in FIG. 15 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device, and an actual communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or a combination of certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1500 can refer to the technical effects of the method described in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (such as circuits), firmware or any other combination. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer programs are loaded or executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that contains one or more available media sets. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (for example, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium can be a solid-state hard disk.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" in this article is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, the character "/" in this article generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship, but it may also indicate an "and/or" relationship. Please refer to the context for specific understanding.

In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or partly embodied in the form of a software product that contributes to the prior art. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk, and other media that can store program codes.

The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (30)

A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a data management network element, comprising: When the terminal does not establish multiple connections, the data management network element obtains indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks; The data management network element sends the indication information to the terminal. The method according to claim 1 is characterized in that the indication information includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises: The data management network element obtains the indication information from the application function. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that before the data management network element obtains the indication information from the application function, the method further comprises: The data management network element sends the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal to the application function network element; The multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that support the slice information and/or the data network name. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include a network that the terminal is currently accessing. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that: The network list further indicates that the multiple networks support the radio access technology types subscribed by the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element receives capability information of the terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to the capability information of the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element obtains the slice information requested by the terminal, wherein the slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to that the network slice is a slice corresponding to a multi-connected service. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element obtains subscription data of the terminal, wherein the subscription data of the terminal indicates that the terminal supports multiple connections; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to the subscription data of the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element receives service information from the access and mobility management network element, wherein the service information is used to indicate that a service demand of the terminal is not met; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to that the service demand of the terminal is not met. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element obtains the indication information according to a preset condition, wherein the preset condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within a time period in which multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located within an area in which the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element receives request information from a terminal, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to the request information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the data management network element obtains the indication information, comprising: The data management network element obtains slice information and/or a data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, wherein the slice information and/or the data network name corresponds to a service of the terminal; The data management network element obtains the indication information according to whether the service of the terminal requires establishing multiple connections. A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to an application function network element, comprising: The application function network element receives a request message, wherein the request message is used to request the application function network element to provide a network that can be used to establish multiple connections, where the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks; The application function network element sends a response message according to the request message, wherein the response message includes a network list, and the multiple networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that the method further comprises: The application function network element receives the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal; The application function network element determines the network list based on multiple networks that support the slice information and/or the data network name. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that: The multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include a network that the terminal is currently accessing. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that: The network list further indicates that the multiple networks support the radio access technology types subscribed by the terminal. A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to an access and mobility management network element, comprising: The access and mobility management network element sends service information to the data management network element, wherein the service information indicates that a service demand of the terminal is not met; The access and mobility management network element receives the indication information of the data management network element according to the service information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections at the same time, and the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks; The access and mobility management network element sends the indication information to the terminal. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that the method further comprises: The access and mobility management network element receives an N2 message from an access network device, where the N2 message includes the service information; The access and mobility management network element determines, based on the service information, that the access network device cannot meet the service demand of the terminal. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that the method further comprises: The access and mobility management network element obtains the service information according to the terminal being located in a low signal area, wherein the service information is specifically used to indicate that the signal quality of the terminal cannot meet the signal quality requirement of the service of the terminal. A communication method, characterized by comprising: Receiving indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, where the multiple connections refer to simultaneously establishing multiple third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections, where the 3GPP access type connections belong to the same or different networks; Multiple connections are established according to the instruction information. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that the terminal has established a connection of 3GPP access type with the first network, and establishing multiple connections according to the indication information comprises: According to the indication information, selecting a second network from a plurality of networks indicated by a network list, wherein the plurality of networks indicated by the network list are networks that can be used to establish multiple connections; Establish a 3GPP access type connection with the second network. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that: The multiple networks indicated by the network list do not include the first network. The method according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that: The network list further indicates that the multiple networks support the radio access technology types subscribed by the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 22-24 is characterized in that the indication information is also used to indicate the network list. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 25, characterized in that the method further comprises: Sending capability information of the terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports multiple connections. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 25, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send the slice information and/or data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, wherein the slice information and/or the data network name corresponds to the service of the terminal, and the service of the terminal is a service that requires establishing multiple connections. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 25, characterized in that the method further comprises: In case that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, request information is sent, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections. A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1-28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium includes a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 28.